Athlete of the Month

The Team Sheeper Athlete of the Month award is handed out to a member of the team on a monthly basis, 7 or 8 times a year. The AOM is someone who made a notable contribution to the team or did something remarkable. Selection is made by nomination and voting by the membership.

You can nominate anyone and the nomination period is usually during the first week or two of the month. Look for notification that nominations are being sought.  When nomination close, the voting starts and once all the votes are tallied, the new AOM is crowned.

Besides bragging rights for a month, our AOM gets some goodies from our gracious sponsors, such as free shoes from TRH, a massage from SMI, gift certificates from GoRide.

Fleet Feet Menlo Park is proud to sponsor this month's athlete who embodies the spirit of Team Sheeper. We believe running can change everything, that an active lifestyle is a healthy lifestyle, and that we all have an athlete hidden within.

Greg Gaffney

July 2010 Athlete of the Month

""Magic" Greg recently took a popular dream, to do all Sheeper workouts for one week, and turned it into reality with a smile and great attitude! Of course, this is a huge amount of volume. But more importantly, what a great way to take effort and plug it straight back into the team program!"
"Great going Greg for doing something no one has done!"
- Fellow Teammates.

What did you want to be when you were growing up?

I wanted to be an Orthopedic Surgeon. I had 4 knee operations in my early teens and was pretty impressed with all that went into those.

Do you have a spouse or children or pets to tell us about?

I have 2 great kids to brag about.

My daughter, Tari is 26 and studies in Argentina. She graduated from St. Francis and USC.  She ran cross country, rowed on a local crew team and has completed a few marathons with another coming up in Argentina.  We ran the Big Sur marathon together; it was pretty special doing something like that with my daughter.

My son, Sean is 23 and lives in Hawaii with his girlfriend.  He graduated from St. Francis too where he swam and played water polo.  I was so impressed with him, hardly ever having swum; he joined the water polo team after freshman year and pretty much caught most of the kids that started swimming at very young ages.  The change in him and the benefits I saw from swimming are what got me into the pool at age 48.

What other hobbies do you have?

I also belong to South End Rowing Club in the City and catch as many open water swims as I can.  I am proud to say I have swam from Candlestick to Aquatic Park (11 miles), the Bridge to Bridge, G.G. Bridge, Treasure Island to YMCA, several Alcatraz swims, and other point to point Bay swims, all without wetsuits. (Just 1 hypothermia incident)  My favorite open water swim is Donner Lake; someday I hope to swim it with my son with my daughter rowing alongside. 

I am also a big fan of the S.F. Giants and S.F. Forty Niners.  I also enjoy mentoring Demaurier J. through Building Futures Now.

How did you become involved with Team Sheeper?

I went online looking for a local pool and masters program and had heard of Tim, so I signed up, paid for 1 year without even trying it, showed up and am still here 4 ½ years later.  I remember after my first week Tim said, “You made it a week” I told him, yep, and I already signed up for a year, he said “Really? You’re kidding”

What is your athletic background?

I have 2 older brothers that were into sports so growing up it was always busy with their games and practices as well as mine.  They never excluded me from anything and helped me by spending hours pitching tennis balls, playing catch or shooting baskets with me.  My brothers are 8 & 9 years older, I played a lot of football with them, their friends and older neighbor kids, but mostly it was basketball and baseball and riding my bike everywhere. I was too young to know if I was very good or if they just made me feel like I was one of the best…great brothers!

I knew pretty early that football was my favorite and more than anything, I wanted to play for Bellarmine.  After all the knee and 2 hernia operations, I had to beg my dad to let me play in high school.  I wasn’t strong enough until junior year to play and finally got the green light.  Having never played organized team football, it took a little bit of time to catch the others.  Senior year I started every game at cornerback!  We were ranked #2 in the whole state and I just missed All League honors.  We were like a band of brothers and had a blast; I’m still close with several from that team.  I also played 2 years at Foothill, but the experience wasn’t anywhere near what Bellarmine was.

What motivates/inspires you?

My kids do, I am very happy they are healthy and active.  I’m glad my daughter continues to run and work out and my son just joined a masters and an open water group in Hawaii.  He wasn’t living healthy for a couple of years, so I’m thrilled he’s back to swimming and working out.

Also, my oldest brother’s daughter, Karen inspires me.  Karen has Down syndrome, but you would hardly know it.  She speaks all over the country on the topic and is a very accomplished swimmer.  She had several hip surgeries when she was young that didn’t work out very well leaving her with a bad limp and some pain, though she never complains.  She is more comfortable swimming than walking and swims about 3 miles a day in Portland Oregon.

What races are you planning for the remainder of this year, or the future, that you are gearing up for?

Santa Cruz Big Kahuna will be my 1^st 70.3, though it’s the 4^th I have signed up for but… not attempted!  Also, the Santa Cruz Tri will be my 3^rd Olympic distance. Both races are preparation for my 1^st Ironman in Arizona this November.  I will also run the San Jose Rock and Roll Half Marathon in October.

My future goal is swimming the 22.1 mile length of Lake Tahoe though it’s tough to get a support crew together and time the weather.  I could be the oldest to complete it and the first from Menlo Masters.

What is your favorite Tim Sheeper quote?

I joined Menlo Masters and was happy with just swimming, then I added running on Tuesdays before also adding the cycling on Saturdays and joining Team Sheeper.  I had passed Tim in the lobby once and mentioned my apprehension about riding long distance and being able to keep up, etc….he said, “so what, just start riding”…so I did and now I love riding and climbing.

What is your favorite Tim Sheeper workout or memorable moment?

I like the track workouts on Tuesday nights, I remember once we were doing 40 yard sprints and I thought… oh good, finally I can be the fastest at something, so we lined up and I think I left a little early and won by a large margin…of course we had to do about 10 of them, but I only wanted to win at least one!  Tim was laughing and shaking his head like “what the hell?”

What would you choose as your last meal?

>My mom used to cook Pot Roast meat for Sunday dinners and from the leftovers we would make sandwiches using white bread, mayonnaise, and salt with a glass of milk!  They were the best!!  Then mint chip ice cream for dessert!!!  Yeah baby!

What scares you?

Dying of a heart attack from the above!!